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Off YOUR Mind: Is Adapting 'Days of Future Past' a Good Idea?

We all have opinions, here's your chance to share your thoughts.

You might have noticed the slight difference in today's titles. Normally when I write my thoughts on a topic, they fall under the "Off My Mind" title. We've also had "Off THEIR Mind" videos where comic book creators are asked these topics at conventions. This is the next step and actually one I had over a year ago. For some strange reason, I never implemented it.

It's being written now and it starts shooting in a few months... It's going to be very ambitious. It's called Days of Future Past, and it deals with aspects of that comic but also some new things. I just don't want to give anything away. Matthew Vaughn will be directing, and we're very excited about that.

Obviously it can't be the same as the story from the comics. There are aspects that would be difficult to adapt plus the fact that the core characters are not part of the X-Men: First Class universe.

We want to hear from you. This is where you guys share your thoughts.

Is trying to adapt or using the title, "Days of Future Past" a good idea?

Don't just answer with a yes or no. Elaborate and share your opinion below.

Tony Guerrero is the Editor-in-Chief of Comic Vine. You can follow him on Twitter@GManFromHeck. He would love to see a proper adaptation of the actual comic story made into an animated or live-action film.

Eh, its a tough issue if you ask me. Essentially Days of Future past runs under the realm of dystopian sci-fi, and unfortunately dystopian sci-fi is a tricky topic to cover on the big screen. It can definitely be a hit or miss situation, especially considering that this needs to ride on the success of where First Class helped reinvigorate the X-Men movie line. Its not a reboot obviously like Total Recall is (which already is gaining lots of negative reviews from what I'm hearing) so it can stand on its toes with other movies to support it. All that I can see as a problem is the Sentinels. It would take a MASSIVE CGI effort in this to accomodate such a thing, but perhaps it can be done? I'll have to say that...its a gamble, this idea being the next X-movie.

I must say I saw this coming...it ll probably be the debut of the first class we know and love (cyke, jean, iceman, angel and beast and since havok is around, polaris...i'd hazard a guess that the only switch would be who's the eldest in havok and cyke) since only beast, banshee and havok are still around...according to the comics, banshee debuted BEFORE the uncanny (giant-size number 1) x-men so it would kinda sorta make sense that he s also around just not keeping ties to the team....

I d also hazard a guess to the debut of the classic brotherhood too: avalanche, blob, pyro, mystique, toad and mastermind, and throw in azazel instead of that moron unus the untouchable.if polaris is in it might also be the case of introducing scarlet witch and quicksilver to introduce another obscure part of magneto's past, perhaps....

i can see days of future past happening this way. it would make complete sense and be organic, especially if they stick jfk instead of senator kelly. it would be a sort of "non-reboot" in the style of the wolverine and star-trek, just getting things right this time round

This is there chance to fix all the issues of the first 3 movies. & Bring on Storm-- It's been 2 whole movies without her.

Storm's already had her chance. Let some of the other X-Men take the stage. The thing I like about the First Class series is that it places unknown mutants/X-Men in the spotlight as opposed to the traditional X-Men. The thing I'm worried about in this film is how they handle Franklin Richards. Technically Fantastic Four and the X-Men are owned by Fox but so far they've all existed in separate universes. This film would make for a nice little crossover.

I'd initially say no. It was a great tease in Last Stand, when they had that Danger Room scene with the Sentinel, but Kitty has been established as a child in the film series. Also, I think First Class has firmly supplanted the first three films in popularity, and that's a completely different team.

That said, I was totally against First Class, because they were mixing characters from different eras, but it turned out to be awesome. So sure, why not? Bring on Days of Future Past!

This is there chance to fix all the issues of the first 3 movies. & Bring on Storm-- It's been 2 whole movies without her.

I can't agree with that: first the mistakes they made in the previous movies can not be fixed according to me: movies are not comics where a retcon can work. At best an other interpretation is possible, or a restart from scratch to establish a new story as canon.

As for Storm, well I've always found her useless in the comics, so why would I want her on screen? Seriously, can anyone remember a major X-men story arc or graphic novel where she actually adds to the story?

days of future past is set in a completely alternate reality and damn near is just a different entity all together. People not familiar with the content taken out of it's continuity could sit in the theater with a big WTF on their faces wondering where it fits in with the last 5 or so xmen movies.

This is not a bad Idea, I mean the Days of future past is a really good story, and it is prety much all of the show Wolverine and the x-men. it's been in the cartoons alot, so yea, i say go for it! it's work

It could totally work...they could send Kitty back instead of just her mind, that would take care of the continuity issue. The time travel sceneio allows them a lot of freedom. Didn't star trek use time travel to rewrite the timeline? The movie could create an alternate version of the time line where the old x-men movies still exist but something changed in the past to alter the timeline creating a new reality movie forward.

Once again, Hollywood takes a crack at a story that I like many hold very dear to my heart and the chances are not in their favor. Yet I am cautiously optamistic that they might actually learn to capture what needs to be in a story like this to be successful. Fingers crossed, please don't screw it up.

Definitely a GREAT idea, it's honors fans, the classic history of the X-Men, it bridges the continuity gaps between the several films (thus again making fans happy), it's a jumping off point to introduce time-travelling mutants and other X-Men and possibly undo any damage from the other films, AND IT'S A FREAKING AWESOME STORYLINE. I say HUZZAH! Also yay.

Is adapting the story a good idea? I doubt it, the whole time travel thing is a stretch and would likely confuse viewers or just frustrate them because you don't need the time travel element to tell a good X-Men story.

How ever as X-Men First Clas showed, you can tell a good story set in a different time period. Why not depict where the X-Universe potentially goes to in the future. It seems to be the goal not to cross over with any of the first group of 3 movies, so going to the future, rather than back to the past, seems like a good solution.

Though, I wonder how good it could be. Taking the future route, could be potentially hazardous to the X-Men franchise. But at this point, I think it's too soon to tell. The title is intriguing to say the least (which is why it was probably chosen, rather than because of plot similarities). I think using the title is a fine idea, maybe not good, but not bad. Using the plot, imo, is a bad idea.

As soon as I saw the title "Days of Future Past", I went YES! YESYESYESYEEEES! Which automatically means NOOOOOOOOOOO! I hated 'First Class' because I could not get past my expectations for canon accuracy or even just within the realm of 'accurate with creative licensing.' So if 'First Class' was that much of a let down, I can't imagine how rabid I would be seeing 'First Class' meets 'Days of Future Past.' Movies--especially the X-Men franchise--have the habit of cramming in so many %&*#ing cameos that it just waters out the story. And a dark alternate future offers the producers a whooooole buffet of cameos to jam down the viewers' throats because everyone wants to see their favorite characters on the big screen.

This is there chance to fix all the issues of the first 3 movies. & Bring on Storm-- It's been 2 whole movies without her.

I can't agree with that: first the mistakes they made in the previous movies can not be fixed according to me: movies are not comics where a retcon can work. At best an other interpretation is possible, or a restart from scratch to establish a new story as canon.

As for Storm, well I've always found her useless in the comics, so why would I want her on screen? Seriously, can anyone remember a major X-men story arc or graphic novel where she actually adds to the story?

I think doing it in a Star Trek fashion could really, really work. First Class being the starting point for both realities, we could ignore a few of the issues as they are explainable, then this universe changing event sets a new timeline in motion where they can continue the First Class series unhindered and then lead into a new set of X-Men movies as well. This could be the perfect opportunity to essentially reboot without rebooting. I enjoy the first three films as well so it really works for me. As for Wolverine, leave Origins in the established timeline and stick the new Wolverine movie in this timeline.

Time travel worked brilliantly for Star Trek. As a long time Trek fan, I was satisfied with how this reboot was carried out after I saw it.

Definitely a GREAT idea, it's honors fans, the classic history of the X-Men, it bridges the continuity gaps between the several films (thus again making fans happy), it's a jumping off point to introduce time-travelling mutants and other X-Men and possibly undo any damage from the other films, AND IT'S A FREAKING AWESOME STORYLINE. I say HUZZAH! Also yay.

Couldn't have said it better. They have a real opportunity to make Last Stand and Origins out of continuity and clear up the issues those two movies created, thereby also seeding the opportunity for a proper X-Men vs Phoenix movie and a large interconnected Cinematic X-Men Universe that can take advantage of X-Force, X-Factor, New Mutants, Cable, etc.

Here's and idea. The first class movie was supposed to be a prequel to the first trilogy, and there have been talks about continuing the old series, so instead of that, why not use the actors from the original trilogy as the x-men from the future. You could say that the future parts takes place around 5 years after last stand and after that movie I don't think anyone would be that upset as seeing them all get killed. It might also make it easier for the audience that isn't familiar with the comics as they are familiar with those characters. You can keep the future part relatively short so it's more of a long cameo with the focus being on the present day version and I think it would work.

@DerfelMacklin: Agreed, they should just have Kitty Pryde come into the First Class continuity telling them to stop an event that leads up to The Last Stand, thus effectively undoing the 3rd X-Movie if she succeeds and allowing more inclusive stories to be told regarding the whole X-Universe without "throwing away" characters.

This is very Ambitious, and twice as risky. In terms of video games they just upped the difficulty level to just below insanity. I won't lie; Not exactly Fox's biggest fan of them holding onto the x-men. But my inner fan-boy is squealing like a school girl.

He's just screaming, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it, I wan't it. Which just ups the level of worry I have for the movie, and the eventual let down. (When did I get so jaded.)

Loved the book, but in a side note I have kinda gotten tired of every writer holding this over the x-men. Some writers will try to address it and change the course of history and outcome, but eventually they snap back to " fear the future." If the book actually followed real time this would have already happened by now. It hasn't. It's just getting old and and become cliche. Either kill everyone or somehow avert disaster and find a new source of doom and gloom for the x-men.

Be real people, this movie will be radically different from what you guys are expecting. Fox has never cared about the comics or the source material. Everyone should know how they get down by now.

This movie will completely butcher the classic story. We'll probably see a couple of ideas like the Sentinels but for the most part, it's going to do it's own thing. If your okay with that, cool. But please don't go in expecting Fox to treat Days of Future Past with some decency because they won't. It is what it is.

@VioletPhoenix: It doesn't even have to be Kitty. Could be Cable or Bishop like they did in TAS. They go back in time to help the X-Men stop the gov't from creating Sentinels(the X-Men chase the money trail, while the Brotherhood takes out thet people behind the program) but Bastion gets in the way ala the Yost X-Force run and creates Nimrods. So many ways they could go with this.

@BushidoBlack: Of course it's not gonna be the graphic novel, I don't think anyone is realistically thinking that. X2 was pretty much God Loves, Man Kills and the movie did things its own way. It's probably gonna be a giant mash-up of several X-Men time travel stories and just use Days of Future Past as a jumping off point. And you know what, that's OK.

@BushidoBlack: Of course it's not gonna be the graphic novel, I don't think anyone is realistically thinking that. X2 was pretty much God Loves, Man Kills and the movie did things its own way. It's probably gonna be a giant mash-up of several X-Men time travel stories and just use Days of Future Past as a jumping off point. And you know what, that's OK.

Like I said before, if your ok with Fox being Fox, that's fine with me.

The premise could work, but I think we have to disabuse ourselves of the notion that it would look ANYTHING like the classic story. Think about how First Class portrayed Banshee. He was called Cassidy, but wasn't shown as being Irish, a key trait to the character in the comics. So they took the name and powers and left behind the background and characterization that would have made the character the Banshee that fans know from the comics.

I can see a Days of Future Past movie being a film where they take the name of the storyline, take the dystopian future and time travel aspects, and then use completely different characters from the original tale, which means no Rachel, Kitty, Franklin or Wolverine, as well as gutting and changing the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to fit what was established in First Class.

I'd be very surprised if it was anything BUT what I've described. It's a shame, as I wish we could have more great Xavier/Magneto interactions, like the first film, where they were a huge highlight.

HELL yeah. It's perfect. They can go hog-wild in the future for all the flash they want without screwing up X-Men universe proper. It makes a lot of sense for what they're trying to do. And once they introduce "alternate universes/timelines" into the public mind, well then they really go nuts with spinoffs.

Its hard to say. I have my problems with first class- namely being that they completely through out the history of the X-Men comic universe to create something new for film goers, and the first time I saw the film I hated it for this reason. I know decades of history of these characters and to see them on the big screen and with a name like 'first class' which directly relates to a very specific team in the comics killed me to see it completely thrown out the window for the film, HOWEVER, after each time I rewatched the film, about 4 times at this point I like it more and more- mainly due to the initial shock the changes gave me lessoning with each viewing.

I've actually gotten to the point where I really like First Class as a film (just not really what I'd hoped it be, but its still a fun movie). With the sequel I was excited, cause they established a new universe for the x-men to exist in that separated it from the comics (and the previous movies kind of). The ability to go in expecting nothing and getting a new story with these characters excited me. BUT, and its a big 'but,' naming it after one of the most revered x-men story of all time wipes away that excitement. Instead I'm just scared that they're taking a story that I would love to see faithfully adapted to the big screen and they'll be doing what Fox does to these things and just completely bastardizing it.

Now don't get me wrong, theres a good chance it'll be a good movie, perhaps even great, but titleing it in such a way they're just setting themselves up to let down fans with expectations of what a 'Days of Future Past' film should be. In my first viewing I'll probablly end up hating it again, and have to wait until its on HBO for a second, third and probably fourth viewing before once again the change-shock has subsided and I enjoy the film for being just that a film.

It would have booned them to create something new, something unique to the the x-men movieverse, but then again being unique and critical thinking is not something I ever really can credit Fox for being.

Instead of direct sequels, these ideas are what I want to see from comics to film. Days Of Future Past, The X-Tinction Agenda(Genosha), Deadly Genesis are all stories that should be brought to the big screen. They're X-Men stories and I think that people would agree that with the X-Men especially, could get away with just telling stories and not worrying about film continuity. Would the X-Men be a candidate for a Pixar-esque production of a film series? Undoubtably. This, until then, is close enough. I just hope Hugh signs on.

To be honest I don't think we should make any judgment about the movie based on the comic story, since at best the movie will be a loose adaptation. Therefore I will withhold judgment until footage is released.

I would say reboot, but it seems skeptical being that the X-Men franchise feels to recent. Days of Future Past would seem to sad, fan reviews are always lower than most if its too sad. I mean it can Sad and Epic (Like the Nolan Batman trilogy) if they do it right, but Days of Future Past seems to apoclyptic to be sad and epic, it seems like I am Legend which wasn't too bright itself. Let's hope for the best I guess